Down on the Dogs

From The National Intelligencer, Washington DC, June 12, 1863, p. 2:

DOWN ON THE DOGS
During the last session of the Georgia Legislature a bill was introduced "to get rid of superfluous dogs," which bill was defeated. It was estimated tht there were one hundred thousand superfluous dogs that would consume enough meat to feed five thousand men, and the wool that was lost by their killing of sheep would clothe five thousand people the first year. The Georgia Legislature, however, maintained the right of dogs to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of" sheep.